Step Into Awareness

Any discussion of walking meditation starts there—with this idea that it’s just something we do between sessions of the thing that really matters. That it’s a chance to stretch our legs a little. That it’s a breather. That it’s secondary. And if that’s our approach to it, then that’s all it is. But what it offers—what’s right beneath our feet—is a path to living our lives on purpose. Almost all approaches to walking meditation come down to two simple instructions. The first is to synchronize your breath with your steps. That could be completing a full inhalation and exhalation over the course of one half-step, or it could be something like breathing in for seven steps, then breathing out for ten. Whatever the style, the relationship between breath and step is intentional, and it’s consistent over the course of the session. The second is instruction to notice that you’re walking. Or, to put it another way, walk on purpose. Slow down. Feel your feet on the ground. Let walking be an activity you do with awareness, rather than simply a mode of transportation.